Reasonably Believing: believing in a secular world 
Een avond bij Alex Agnew bracht me onverwacht aan het denken over onze hemelse Vader. Wat gebeurt er wanneer God voor iemand van zijn voetstuk valt en die persoon zijn geloof verliest? Misschien betekent afstand nemen niet noodzakelijk dat we verder van God verwijderd raken. Misschien kunnen die ervaringen ons juist iets waardevols leren. Want Gods liefde verdwijnt nooit, ook niet wanneer wij Hem...
Mijn boek 'Redelijk gelovig' is er. De kernvraag: kan je vandaag nog redelijk in God geloven? Ik denk het wel — niet ondanks nadenken, maar dankzij nadenken, twijfel en een stapeling van aanwijzingen die op zich niets bewijzen, maar samen wel richting geven.
'Ik geloof wel in iets' klinkt onschuldig, maar is vooral comfortabel — een vaag universum stelt geen eisen, een persoonlijke God wel. We verwarren in Vlaanderen bovendien vaak 'wil ik nog iets met de kerk te maken hebben' met 'bestaat God', terwijl dat twee andere vragen zijn. 'Iets' is een prima beginpunt, zolang het geen eindpunt wordt waarachter je je verstopt om nooit door te vragen.
De Belgische waarschuwing op alcoholreclame verliest het woord 'misbruik', waarmee de overheid erkent dat er geen veilige ondergrens voor alcohol bestaat. Bijna tweehonderd jaar geleden ging het Woord van Wijsheid uit 1833 al verder dan de toenmalige matigheidsbewegingen door volledige onthouding te vragen. Dat maakt die openbaring geen medisch handboek, maar toont wel hoe een leefregel achteraf...
Why 'I'll see you again' is not the actual comfort for me when losing someone I love — and what is.
Freedom of choice needs real alternatives and opposition. But it does not follow that Satan was necessary for God's plan. Satan himself already needed freedom of choice to be able to become Satan. Our freedom of choice therefore does not come from him. It comes from God.
Science seeks facts, faith seeks meaning — but they look at the same reality. A sincere search for truth should never shy away from honest questions or a second experiment. Because whether it's about a laboratory or a prayer: you only find the real answers when you investigate for yourself.
We usually pray that our circumstances change — like a traffic jam that needs to clear up. But what if we don't pray for change around us, but for change within us?
Everyone is welcome to Jesus, exactly as they are. Whoever follows Him is simultaneously invited to grow further. The question is therefore not whether you are already 'ready', but whether you are willing to go on a journey with Christ. And whoever is already on their way, it's best to join as a training partner, not as a spectator.
People rarely leave for one reason. Four patterns, plus a fifth closer to home: an awkward word that was never corrected. Listening, understanding without agreeing, and speaking aloud what we keep silent about, help more than policy. Leaving usually remains a personal choice — ours is: never be the reason, but be the love that remains.
You don't need faith to be a good or happy person. But for me, faith does add an extra dimension: it provides a clear framework for making choices, helps to give meaning to adversity yourself, and offers the perspective that this life is a chapter in a larger, ongoing story.
An unanswered prayer for healing or deliverance does not mean a lack of faith or divine unwillingness. The real miracle is often not that a problem or physical pain disappears, but that you get the strength and insight to keep standing and move forward. Commandments and adversities are not there to filter us out, but to shape us and guide us to who we can become.
Feeling alone and being alone are two different things. Making God feel palpably present would make faith meaningless; it is precisely in the difficult moments that your choice to keep seeking Him matters.
More and more people feel empty or lonely, despite a life full of social media and social busyness. That is no coincidence: if the line between man and God weakens, the line to the other must suddenly bear all the weight alone, and it bends under it. An ancient insight from Genesis and a simple triangle show why, and what small gesture can restore that balance as early as this week.
My son Laurens has autism, and lately it has been weighing heavily on me. What did I do to deserve this, I sometimes think. What keeps me standing when an answer is not forthcoming are not great insights but fixed habits. And this week, a good conversation with a friend and the opportunity to serve myself brought me more together than I had expected.
Last time we left a skeptical eighteen-year-old behind on his way to Italy. In Assisi, he stumbles over a statue with pigeons — and over a memory his mind cannot place. Thirty years later, he is still not sure what happened. But it set something in motion that could no longer be stopped.
Every Sunday there are new faces in the church hall, and most of them do not return. Not because believing is difficult, but for another reason. About church as a means, not an end, about what individualism costs us, and about the body of Christ as an answer to a void that goes much further than religion alone.
God hears every prayer, but the answer rarely comes as you expect. Four reasons why the silence after a prayer does not mean no one is listening, with scripture references supporting each point.
Apostle Gerrit W. Gong dedicates an extensive video to AI, with clear warnings about what technology can never replace: prayer, growth through effort, real friendship, the silence in nature. I think you should pay attention to the triangle between God, the other and yourself where no algorithm should come between.
Peter steps out of the boat, walks on water, and sinks. The classic lesson says: make sure your faith is stronger. But what if that is not the point of the story at all? Christ knew beforehand that Peter would sink — and immediately reached out his hand. No reproach, no delay. That changes everything about how we look at this story, and how we look at ourselves in a time...
Reasonably Believing: believing in a secular world 
GESIGNEERD EN GRATIS VERZENDING